On May 21, the AFC unveiled the East Asian Champions League group stage schedule, which spans from June 24 to July 9, completely overlapping with the 6th to 9th rounds of the Chinese Super League. This forced the three Chinese Super League had to make a difficult choice. At the moment, Guoan has already made it clear that it will send its U20 team to the tournament, while Guangzhou and Seaport are likely to arrange for their reserve teams to participate. This will probably be the weakest AFC Champions League team in the history of the Chinese Super League, following the 2009 group stage failure, again in such a situation.
Guoan became the last of the three teams to finalize their venue, and it was not until early May that it was confirmed that the match would be played in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Last year's AFC Champions League saw Guoan make a historic breakthrough, breaking through to the quarterfinals of the East Asian zone, making it the best performance by a Chinese Super League team in the AFC Champions League last season. This year, Guoan's opponents in the group stage include Union City of the Philippines, Kawasaki Frontale of the J-League, and the winner of Daegu FC/Chiang Rai United of Thailand in the K-League. Faced with a strong opposition, Guoan's intentions regarding the AFC Champions League look a little vague. Although fielding a youth army means the team has strategically given up on the AFC Champions League, the club says it can't afford to be lax in its approach to the competition. And playing in intercontinental tournaments is a rare experience for young players, which is beneficial to their growth.
Last year, Guoan sent their U21 ladder team to play in the AFC Cup with their main players participating in the AFC Champions League. They beat Chengdu Rongcheng 1-0 in the second round, with the opponent sending almost all of their main players, who were superior to Guoan's youth army in terms of both experience and physical condition. Guoan's victory also proved that they have not given up on the game and will give their best in every match. However, when facing Wuhan in the third round, Guoan lost 0-3. Nonetheless, this trip to the AFC Cup also allowed the outside world to recognize this young team, and they gained valuable experience as a result.
In fact, the Guoan team's main task this year is the National Games. In the already-concluded qualifying round of the Games, Beijing U20, which consists of the team's school-age players, advanced to the final round by topping the group, the first breakthrough in 12 years.
Guoan youth training deputy director Yang Pu said in an interview, this group of players with outstanding ability, and training and playing together for nearly 10 years, has reached the "quality change" time. In the next few months, this unit will shoulder the task of this season's AFC Champions League group stage and the National Games competition, for them, this will be a very challenging test. That said, they will travel to Uzbekistan for the AFC Championships at the end of June and, if all goes well, come back for the National Games after finishing their AFC Championship duties. Right now, the goal is to juggle both events. Yang Pu said, "The AFC Championship is to represent China, and the National Games is to compete on behalf of Beijing, so we can't afford to slack off on either."
There are many excellent seedlings in this youth army, in addition to Leng Jixuan and Liang Shaowen, who are already famous, there are also Hu Jiaqi and Shi Yu Cheng, etc., who have the opportunity to enter the first team of Guoan in the future.
In recent years, Guoan team has invested heavily in youth training, and the Dutch youth training system has been integrated into every age group team. This time out for the AFC Champions League will be a brand new challenge for the lads. Let's see if this youth army can perform well when facing real high-level opponents. In addition, they will have to fight for better results in the final stage of the Games.
Guangzhou is in Group J, which is set to be played in Buriram, Thailand, with group stage opponents including Thai Premier League's Thai Harbour, Hong Kong Premier League's Kitchee and the winner of the play-off between J-League's Sakura Osaka and Australian Premier League's Melbourne Victory.
Guangzhou are no strangers to the Thunderball Stadium in Buriram, Thailand, where they played their first ever AFC Champions League match in the 2012 season and were drawn in the same group as Buriram United. In the final round of the group stage, in the pouring rain of Lebao, Kongka hit a penalty kick before the end to help the team get three points to save their lives, and ultimately overpowering the K-League dominant Jeonbuk to advance, the first time in the tournament into the round of 16. The tournament was also the final match for Lee Jang-soo, who returned to Yangcheng to enter the Silver Fox era.
Guangzhou's second visit to the Leipzig Football Stadium was in 2018. The two teams, which have become regulars in the AFC Champions League, met again in the group stage. However, Guangzhou's trip this time was a "Thai embarrassment". The whole team traveled on a chartered plane because the local small airport runway accident, resulting in Cannavaro and his disciples were stranded in Bangkok for a long time, arriving in Lei Fort stomping ground has been close to the early morning. Reporters also experienced one of the latest pre-match conference in history, after such a long journey, the two teams drew 1-1.
It should be said that hosting the AFC Champions League group stage, Lei Fort's ground conditions are still trustworthy. The owner of Buriram United, Chen Naiwen, spent a huge amount of money to build this professional stadium with good quality turf, and there is also an exclusive supporting hotel and training ground next to the stadium. Previously, the national soccer team once considered, in this stadium to play in the epidemic delayed 40 strong match.
However, this AFC Champions League, Guangzhou team also faces the problem of collision. The 5th round of the group stage was played on the same day as Guangzhou's 9th round of the Chinese Super League against Taishan, only 5 hours apart. Coupled with the fact that they have to undergo quarantine when they return from abroad, Guangzhou will have to split their forces and compete with a youth army.
For the Guangzhou team, it will be a good opportunity to exercise if the football school product can experience the baptism of the Asian field. But with such an arrangement, it may not be possible to consider the results.
It is worth mentioning that Chang Weiwei, the former head coach of the Guangzhou reserve team, returned to his hometown this year to coach the Wuhan women's soccer team, which has Wang Frost, and if the youngsters are to play in the AFC Champions League, the coaching staff will have to find a coach who meets the requirements of the AFC.
Despite the fact that only three teams from the Super League are participating, Seaport will still have to play the play-offs. According to the AFC's fixture list, Seaport will face the winner of the match between Brisbane Lions and Kaya Philippines (qualifying on June 20) in Thailand on June 23 at 6pm. On the same day, Seaport has a Chinese Super League match against Wuhan, so Seaport should have a substitute or team in the competition.
Originally, Seaport was not qualified for the AFC Champions League. However, because Taishan was penalized by the AFC, so, they got the qualification for the AFC Champions League by default. If they win in the play-offs, Seaport will enter Group F. Their opponents in the same group include Pathum United of the Thai Premier League, Ulsan of the K-League and Vietnam Telecom. If they lose, they will go straight home.
Last year, the AFC Championship, was played after the Chinese Super League was played. Because of the CFA's request, the BIG4 gave up the AFC Cup and sent their main players to the AFC Champions League. But after the game, because of flights and other problems, the team was once trapped in the hotel, and only after a few weeks to return to the country. This year, if you send the main force again, the impact will be more than just a direct conflict in time four rounds of the league, taking into account the isolation and other issues, at least seven or eight rounds of the league to miss, which is the teams can not afford.
Last year's AFC Cup saw the harbor similarly field a young force. That list, apart from 27-year-old striker Li Hao Wen, was made up of U23 players, including as many as 11 U21 players, the youngest being goalkeeper Kun Liang, who was born in 2003. The participating players, however, are almost all from Shanghai Hong Kong's 2018 league-winning squad in all age groups.
At that time, the seaport spent three weeks to reorganize the team and also recalled some loaned out players, including Zhang Huachen and Wei Lai from Nantong; Zhou Zheng, Zhu Jiayi, Li Shenyuan, Huang Zhenfei and Sun Guan'ou from Inner Mongolia; and Li Haowen from Suzhou. It can be said that except for Hu Jinghang, who was playing in Wuhan at the time, and Shi Xiaodong, Nantong's main goalkeeper, who didn't come back, everyone else came back. But now, at this time of the year, all levels of the league have just begun, of course, can not be drafted back, so the seaport can only send a team to participate.
If you play the AFC Champions League with a team, it's actually the same as playing the AFC Cup with a team last year, and as then manager Chen Xufeng said, it's a stage for the young players to show themselves. It can be expected that the young players will have a great desire to play. Only, such a lineup to play the AFC Champions League, the results can be predicted. "In fact, the team to play the Asian Championship, for young players, do not think too much, just enjoy the process of the game." An insider said.
Since the expansion of the AFC Champions League in 2009, the Chinese Super League group stage performance is the worst that year, 4 participating teams, the group stage was annihilated. Among them, Luneng 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses accumulated 7 points, the group third out of the game; the same group third out of the game, there are 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses accumulated 8 points Shenhua and TEDA. Guoan is 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses accumulated 5 points, bottom of the group out.
